Countertop construction



July 21, 1959 P. B. LIE ER 2,895,778

' COUNTERTOP CONSTRUCTION Filed May 6, 1957 United States Pate fifice2,895,778 Patented July 21, 1959 COUNTERTOP CONSTRUCTION Philip BenLieber, Shreveport, La. Application May 6, 1957, Serial No. 657,172

2 Claims. (Cl. 311-106) The present invention pertains to cabinet makinggenerally, but more specifically to the making of counter tops forrestaurants, homes and the like. The invention also pertains to thattype of counter top wherein the surface is covered with a Water and acidresisting sheet material.

Currently popular in the building trades for use as a countertop is amaterial known by the trade-name of Formicaa resinous plastic providinga hard, durable surface and offered in many colors. The material isresistant to water and most acids and is manufactured in two types; as athermo plastic and as a thermo setting plastic. The various physical andchemical properties may be found in Patent No. 2,433,643. While thethermo plastic type is highly ideal in the building trades in that mostany type post-forming can be done, it is also known that its costusually prohibits its use. For this reason architects and builders havespecified the standard grade or thermosetting type. Due to thecharacteristics of this type, however, applications are limited mostlyto flat surfaces. Being very brittle the sheet cannot be bent while coldand only by the proper application of heat can it be bent at all; andeven then only to a considerably large radius.

For instance, in the construction of a kitchen cabinet,

the cabinet maker usually frames in a suitable substructure withdrawers, doors and shelves spaced at the desire of the owner or to meetsome other specification. The application of a covering for the countertop, however, requires particular skill. It would 'be a relativelysimple matter to apply the plastic sheet by an adhesive to the top flatsurface; but to properly form the backsplash is a different matter.Since the brittle sheet material cannot be bent to a small radius andturned up at its perimetral edge to form the backsplash, the cabinetmaker must make a butt joint between the backsplash and the counter topand either glue the joint or apply some filler material such as plasticwood to simulate a fillet. The use of a dilferent material would presentan unsightly appearance while a plain butt joint would eventually bepenetrated by the seepage of water. Moreover, the cabinet maker isconstantly plagued with out-of-square corners and with projectingcabinets that vary in height above the counter top. Any miscalculation,of course, means a Waste of the sheet from which the pattern is cut andthe use of a new sheet.

One of the objects of the present invention is the provision of acabinet construction wherein the standard grade of the thermosettingplastic sheet known as Formica may be used as a countertop and also thebacksplash with a small radius formed at the juncture of the two.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a cabinetconstruction wherein the countertop and the backsplash are pre-fonnedand may be offered for sale by sections according to length.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a cabinetconstruction wherein small radii may be formed of a thermosettingplastic whereby subsequently glued joints may be made to appear as ifmolded from a single sheet.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of aconstruction facilitating the installation of a wainscoting between thebacksplash of a counter and upper cabinets or the like. This sameconstruction is highly advantageous also in the construction of showerstalls or any other construction where the heretofore butted or lappedjoints of plastic sheets have failed to serve their purpose.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent inthe course of the following detailed description, when viewed togetherwith the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a broken, isometric view of a countertop employing theconstruction details of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of a pre-formed end splash member.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken along lines 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detailed, sectional View illustrating the manner of formingan expansion joint in the present invention.

In the drawing numeral 10 designates generally a countertop made inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention. The variousviews shown are those of a common kitchen cabinet and are given by wayof example to illustrate the teachings of the invention.

As pointed out in one of the objects of the invention, all of the partsof the countertop are pre-formed and ready for installation at the jobsite. The main counter top 11 consists in a wooden base 12 with a sheetof Formica 13 afiixed to the top surface by an adhesive. The backsplashground 14 is used in connection with a cove molding 15, both of whichare fixed to the countertop base 12 as illustrated in Fig. 3.

It will be remembered that the thermosetting type or standard grade ofthe Formica is used. In order to make the small radius 17 at thejuncture of the countertop and backsplash, the back side of the Formicasheet is actually machined along that portion of the sheet when thesubsequent radius will occur. By experimentation it has been found thatthis machining not only lessens the thickness of the material tofacilitate the bend, but actually relieves the surface strains set up inthe original material by extreme pressures during its manufacture. Whilethe original material is sanded over its back side, such sanding isunidirectional and is made with a relatively coarse grit. Consequentlysmall grooves are left in the material face from one end of the sheet tothe other. Thus, any attempt to make a 'bend of a small radius in theoriginal material will fracture the material along one of the sandinggrooves where the surface stresses are the greatest. Both heat andpressure are .used as well as an adhesive to bond the sheet to thepreformed base 12.

In the present instance the standard opening 16 is left for a sink andpositioned along the length of the countertop as per specification. Anyother openings such as for surface heating units or the like could bespecified before the top is formed so that all fixtures would properlyfit into position when the top is assembled at the job site. It willalso be noted that the sheet of Formica is turned up along the face ofthe backsplash and is finally capped with a strip 18 of the samematerial.

Heretofore it has been virtually impossible to fit an endsplash intoproper juncture with a backsplash where only the backsplash had a radiusat its base. Due to the general framework being out-of-square or tovariations in the radius and even to variations in the thickness of thematerial, the mitering work has been extremely tedious.

To obviate the necessity of any mitering work on the job site, thepresent invention proposes a set-on type of end splash as shown in Fig.2 and designated generally by the numeral 19. This component is madesimilar to that of the backsplash with a main ground member 20 and itscorresponding cove molding 21. Bonded to the surface, of course, is thecovering material 22 of Formica. One end of the component is rounded offto a radius 23 matching the radius 17 on the backsplash. The over alllength of the endsplash is standard and is cut to properly match theconstruction of the pre-formed counter when finally set into position asshown in Fig. 1. It is also capped along the top edge with a strip ofFormica 24.

In this end splash construction it will be noted that the inner edge 24of the convex radius 25 is sanded to a feather edge so that when themember is finally glued into position on the countertop, the joint ishardly perceptible. Fig. 4 shows a sectional view of an end splashmounted to the countertop. The cove radius 35 blends into the countersurface material 13 so that no noticeable joint appears.

It will be remembered that the present invention is to facilitateon-the-job installation of cabinets, particularly countertops and endsplashes. For this reason the Many times counters are designed either inan L-shape r or U-shape. One of the advantages of the present inventionis that when ordering countertops by units of length, a 90 degree turnto form an L-shape counter is easily done. The joining may be made witha special spline or by dowels or by any other standard method. Such aunit is designated by the numeral 26 of Fig. 1. The construction of thisunit is identical with that of the main counter 10. Let it be supposed,now, that the alleged 90 degree corner was not actually 90 degrees, butwas quite out-of-square. The workman installing the countertop of thepresent invention would simply align the end splashes of the maincounter and the auxiliary counter and simply trim the abutting face edgeof the auxiliary countertop for the proper fit. With the set-on type ofend splashes a corner would have to be considerably out-of-square beforethe end splashes would fail to mesh properly with the correspondingradius formed on the backsplash.

As pointed out earlier in the specification, the present inventionprovides a means of using a thermosetting plastic as a bonded coveringfor countertops and the like and provides a means of bending and bondingthe sheet to smaller radii than has been possible heretofore.

Due to this unique feature it is now possible to use a standard grade ofmaterial. which is less expensive than the special post forming grade.The invention permits a finished product of the finest quality andprovides waterproof joints while still allowing for expansion andcontraction of the material.

While I have described my invention in detail with reference to acountertop, it will be remembered that this has been by way of exampleonly and that such bonding and joining could be applied to other itemsand materials without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as fall within the purview of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A countertop comprising a main base and backsplash, said base andbacksplash being simultaneously faced with a plastic material so as toleave a small radius at the juncture between the two, end splashes forsaid countertop, each of said endsplashes being formed separately andadapted for assembly with said countertop when the same is installed,said endsplashes being faced with a plastic material and provided with aconcave radius along one bottom edge identical with the radius formed atthe juncture between said base and said backsplash, a convex radius alsoformed at one corner of each of said endsplashes to conform to theconcave radius between said base and said backsplash, the bottom facesof said endsplashes being machined to a sharp edge to overlap and blendwith the countertop facing material when set onto the same, the area ofall radial bends being supported throughout the entire lengths thereof.

2. A countertop comprising a main base and backsplash, said base andbacksplash being simultaneously faced with a plastic material so as toleave a small radius at the juncture between the two, separately formedendsplashes for said countertop, said endsplashes being faced with aplastic material and provided with a concave radius along one bottomedge identical with the radius formed at the juncture of said base andsaid backsplash, a convex radius also formed along one corner of each ofsaid endsplashes to conform to the concave radius between said base andsaid backsplash, the bottom faces of said endsplashes being machined toa sharp edge, said endsplashes adapted to be positioned one at each endof said main base after the same is installed with the bottom facesoverlapping the marginal edges of said main countertop base but inplanes not necessarily degrees to the plane of said backsplash.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,293,184 Weissert Aug. 18, 1942 2,492,541 Stanitz Dec. 27, 19492,568,243 McCormick Sept. 18, 1951 2,570,850 Pearson Oct. 9, 19512,586,112 Stoddard Feb. 19, 1952 2,594,516 Swisher Apr. 29, 19522,626,846 Morris Jan. 27, 1953 2,654,648 Burke Oct. 6, 1953 2,661,990Knuth Dec. 8, 1953 2,665,183 Battles Jan. 5, 1954

